


thoughts come of fire burning

by s-sokka (poesidone)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Arson, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining, arson?, mostly comfort though i'll be honest, no bending but arson is a good alternative to firebending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26765530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poesidone/pseuds/s-sokka
Summary: “What are you doing?!” Sokka pulled up to the scene and got out of the car as quickly as he could. He thought the distress he felt at the sight of Zuko standing in front of a burning building with a lit flamethrower in his hands was reasonable and understandable.“Having some me time,” Zuko replied calmly, as if he wasn’t standing in front of a burning building with a lit flamethrower in his hands. He was watching the flames grow higher and higher with something like vague interest on his face, not even fully invested in the sight before him.“You’re committing a federal crime!” This made Zuko look at him, and Sokka could see the pure hysteria written across his face. He took his finger off of the trigger and the flames dissipated.“What part of ‘me time’ do you not understand?” he asked as if Sokka was the one acting absurd.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 46
Kudos: 421





	thoughts come of fire burning

**Author's Note:**

> ok i've been talking about this au for a week or so now, and i am finally posting it!! sorry if it's garbage, i wrote it mostly for myself tbh
> 
> thank you Chadley (@idiotsokka on tumblr) for beta reading!! And also thank you to everyone in the discord for helping me when i got stuck!!!
> 
> title from "Home" by AlicebanD

“What are you doing?!” Sokka pulled up to the scene and got out of the car as quickly as he could. He thought the distress he felt at the sight of Zuko standing in front of a burning building with a lit flamethrower in his hands was reasonable and understandable.

“Having some me time,” Zuko replied calmly, as if he wasn’t standing in front of a burning building with a lit flamethrower in his hands. He was watching the flames grow higher and higher with something like vague interest on his face, not even fully invested in the sight before him.

“You’re committing a federal crime!” This made Zuko look at him, and Sokka could see the pure hysteria written across his face. He took his finger off of the trigger and the flames dissipated.

“What part of ‘me time’ do you not understand?” he asked as if Sokka was the one acting absurd.

“Dude!” It wasn’t a particularly eloquent response, but Sokka was a little preoccupied with thinking of the easiest and least painful way of getting Zuko to get in his car to flee the scene. He was shocked that first responders hadn’t already arrived; he would have thought that Zuko’s family’s mansion going up in flames would have been a priority for them, since his father had already bought out the police departments in all of the surrounding cities. Of course, since there were no immediate neighbors near the mansion, they probably had some extra time, since someone would have had to see the flames from over the tops of the trees in order to call it in to emergency services.

“Also, why would you ask what I was doing if you already knew that I was committing a federal crime? What’s the point of that?” Zuko pushed on, seemingly totally unaware of the severity of the situation.

“Zuko, put the flamethrower down!” Sokka pleaded, trying his best not to break into a full-on panic. If he started to freak out now, Zuko probably would too, and Sokka didn’t know if he would be able to handle that.

“Ya know what?” Zuko raised the flamethrower even higher from where his arms had started to get pulled down by gravity. He turned and aimed it at the mailbox he was standing next to. It was one of those ridiculous rich-people mailboxes that was made to look like the house it belonged to. “No, I’m not gonna put it down since you told me to and I don’t like your attitude.”

He looked Sokka dead in the eyes, that same manic glee still present in them, and pulled the trigger on the flamethrower again. The flames took to the mailbox quickly, and though Sokka couldn’t say he was sad to see it go, he was running out of time for them to escape the authorities.

“Zuko,” Sokka was not above begging at this point, he needed to get Zuko somewhere safe immediately. “Please, put the flamethrower down and get in the car. You’ll be in serious danger if you’re still here when the cops show up.” He didn’t want to mention Ozai, but he would if it came to that.

“What are the cops gonna do? Arrest me? My father bought them out years ago.” Zuko protested with a sharp and humorless laugh, still stuck in his detached, manic haze.

“Zuko,” Sokka tried to speak loudly enough to be heard over the crackling of the flames and the sounds of the structures of the house falling to the ground, dangerously close to where the two of them were standing. “That’s exactly why you’re in danger.”

Zuko looked at Sokka blankly for a moment and Sokka waited, hoping it would click in Zuko’s head. That had been his big trump card, if Zuko didn’t come with him now then he was all out of ideas.

Zuko’s eye widened and he blinked his eyes a few times rapidly. It was as if a switch had gone off in Zuko’s brain and the haze lifted from over him. Sokka let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding; he breathed back in, only to start coughing from the lungful of smoke that he had gotten. He watched through watering eyes as Zuko’s expression switched from one of pure adrenaline to sheer panic.

Sokka did his best to stifle his coughs to speak to Zuko before the other boy broke into a full, genuine panic. He could hear the sirens in the distance, they were still a safe distance away, but they were getting closer by the second.

“Zuko,” he rasped. “Please get in the car, please let me help you.” He was getting tired of this back and forth, they were almost out of time.

Zuko nodded, his face etched with fear and exhaustion. “Okay,” he said, sounding unsure and unlike himself. “I’ll get in the car now.”

Sokka nodded too, mirroring Zuko’s motions as they both stumbled over to Sokka’s hand-me-down Rav4, Sokka fumbling with the keys before remembering that he hadn’t locked it when he had gotten out. He pulled the door open with so much force that he was surprised it didn’t rip right off the hinges and slammed it shut as soon as he got in.

He turned the keys in the ignition and shifted into drive, not bothering to put his seatbelt on. He checked to make sure Zuko was in the car with the door shut and floored it.

He saw Zuko grasp for the ceiling handle as Sokka sped them through the neighborhood; he didn’t feel particularly sympathetic at the moment and maintained a breakneck speed. He listened as closely as he could to hear which direction the sirens were coming from, wanting to avoid them for obvious reasons. Namely, arson. 

“They’re on the right.” Zuko offered, sounding like he might be in shock. Sokka nodded silently in acknowledgment, debating whether or not he should slow down to avoid looking suspicious. He lifted his foot off the gas as they approached the intersection, flicking on his turn signals. Luckily there was a break in the traffic which allowed them to turn onto the road and drive away without looking like they were running away from a crime scene. He checked his rearview and saw the flames flying above the trees. How Zuko had managed such a massive fire with such a small torch, he had no idea.

“Sokka, I--” Zuko started to say, but Sokka cut him off.

“Not right now, Zuko.” he wasn’t sure if he felt mad at Zuko or if he was just scared for him. “I’m gonna get us further away and then you can explain what happened. Just let me get us out of here in one piece first, okay?” It wasn’t really a question, and from Zuko’s silence it was clear that he knew that.

Sokka finished making the turn, though his eyes were still watering from the smoke, so it was hard to see the road in front of him. He thanked whichever spirits were looking out for them that there were only a few other cars on the road, enough to camouflage them, but not enough that Sokka’s current lack of unclouded vision posed any real threat to anyone’s safety.

He coughed a little bit as he let out another deep breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding. He cleared his throat and tried to regain some steadiness to his breathing as he slowed down in front of the light. Zuko was still silent, obeying Sokka’s instructions very well as he handed Sokka an opened bottle of water. Sokka wasn’t sure where he had gotten it from, but he accepted the offering anyway, taking small sips to soothe the burning in his throat.

He handed the water back to Zuko as the light turned green. He was starting to feel less frantic now, they had passed the first responders as they turned onto Zuko’s family’s street with their flashing lights and screaming sirens. He wasn’t ready to hear Zuko’s explanation just yet though.

As he drove them past the movie theater in their town, he tried to plan a route in his head. He needed to think of a destination where no one would think to look for them for the next couple of hours at least. He dug through all the best hideout spots in his mind until he remembered the public library in the next town over. Far enough that they were putting some distance between them and the fire, but still within reason.

Sokka checked the rearview again, just to make sure they had lost the authorities before fixing his eyes back on the road in front of him.

He took one hand off the wheel to grab his phone and tossed it onto Zuko’s lap. Or at least that had been his intention; he hadn’t realized that Zuko had brought the flamethrower with him and was keeping it in his lap. His phone bounced off of it and tumbled to the ground by Zuko’s feet.

“Zuko, dude!” Sokka tried not to raise his voice. “Why would you bring that thing into my car?”

“If I had left it there it would have been evidence.” Sokka wasn’t looking at him, but he could hear that the adrenaline was wearing off and starting to give way to tiredness.

He sighed; he couldn’t deny that Zuko had a point. “Well, could you at least put it in the backseat? I don’t feel safe with that thing being up here. Is there a safety lock on it or something?”

“Yeah, sorry. I’ll put it in the back.” Zuko muttered, unplugging one of the valves on the incendiary weapon and carefully placing it on the floor behind his seat.

“Man, where did you even get that thing?” Sokka couldn’t contain his curiosity.

“Uncle had it in his shed. He doesn’t know that I took it.”

Sokka sighed. “Okay, we’ll talk about this more when we get to where we’re going. I can’t talk about this with you and drive at the same time.” He remembered that he had tossed his phone at Zuko. “Hey, did my phone land on the floor?”

Zuko bent over to check. “Yeah.” he said, picking it up and turning to place it back in Sokka’s cup holder.

“No, I want you to look up directions to the BSS Public Library. I don’t remember how to get there from here.” He ignored Zuko’s questioning look and fixed his eyes on the road as they stopped at another light. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Zuko quickly typed in Sokka’s passcode and scrolled through to find the maps app. Neither of them questioned why Sokka had given Zuko his phone to look it up when Zuko’s own phone sat unharmed in his jeans pocket, or why Zuko knew Sokka’s passcode as well as he knew his own. It was one of the many unspoken parts of their relationship that neither of them would know how to address even if they had wanted to.

“Uh,” Zuko was squinting at the screen as he examined the route. “It looks like we’re just going straight for the next ten miles.”

“Okay.” Sokka replied, not leaving any openings for conversation to arise. He figured they both needed to take the next ten miles to clear their heads a bit and collect their thoughts.

The setting sun almost made this feel like any one of their many drives together, but right now Sokka swore he could cut the tension between them with a knife. Sokka resolutely chose to ignore it as he turned on his headlights.

He wished this was just another one of their evening drives, those drives had given him some of his favorite memories with his friend. They had explored the entire region together, just driving and talking like the only thing that mattered in the moment was hearing each other’s thoughts. And, he guessed, it probably was the most important thing in the moment.

As it was, they spent the next 20 minutes in an uncomfortable, bordering on painful, silence. Sokka used this time to try and make sense of everything that had happened in the past hour. He had gotten a concerning and cryptid text from Zuko early in the evening. It had simply said:  _ I wonder if my father likes setting things on fire as much now as he did when I was a kid. Too bad he’ll never get to see this. _

Sokka had been best friends with Zuko for long enough by now to know that Zuko only brought up his abusive shitbag of a father when something was really wrong. That had been the first signal that something bad was about to happen. 

That and the part about the fire. That had been concerning too.

Sokka had responded to the message almost immediately, asking if Zuko was okay and if he was in danger. No response. After 15 minutes of not hearing back from him, Sokka had gotten a call from Zuko, which he answered before the first ring was even over.

_ (“Sokka!” Zuko greeted him cheerfully, though it was difficult to hear him over the background noise. Sokka couldn’t tell what was making the noise, but right now he was just relieved to hear Zuko’s voice at all. “My best friend, my favorite person in the world!” he laughed. _

_ “Zuko,” Sokka was relieved to hear from his friend, but the cheery tone and laughter worried him. Zuko never sounded cheery. Nor did he call Sokka his ‘favorite person in the whole world’. “Zuko, are you okay? Where are you, what’s all that noise?” _

_ “Come to my father’s house, it’s quite the show!” Zuko started laughing and he sounded hysterical. Sokka’s worry must have shown on his face, if the questioning look he got from his dad was any indication.  _ It’s Zuko,  _ Sokka mouthed at him. His dad nodded knowingly, he knew all about Zuko’s family and trauma. He probably also knew that even if it hadn’t been an emergency, Sokka still would come whenever Zuko called. _

_ “Zuko, what’s going on? Are you okay?” he asked again, having already grabbed his keys and started out the door to get in the car and drive over to Zuko. _

_ “I’m great! I actually think that I have never felt better!” he was still laughing as Sokka shut the door and put his seatbelt on. _

_ “Zuko, don’t leave, I’m on my way right now. Just stay there until I get there, okay?” Sokka turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the driveway. _

_ “Why would I leave? It’s just starting to get interesting! And I wouldn’t leave without you, obviously!” _

_ “Zuko, I need you to tell me what’s going on. Are you okay?” he asked for the third time. He thanked the spirits that Zuko’s family’s house was only a few minutes away. _

_ “I’m fine, I promise.” Zuko finally answered. Almost sounding like himself again for a moment. “Sokka, you need to come see it, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. I want you to be here with me for this, you’re the only person I trust to share it with.” he continued in a tone of quiet awe. _

_ “Okay,” Sokka promised, ignoring the way Zuko’s words were making him feel. “I’ll be there in just a minute.” _

_ “Good.” The line went dead and Sokka shoved his phone into the cupholder, pulling onto the private drive Zuko’s family lived on. ) _

And that was the thing, wasn’t it? Sokka knew that he would always be willing to drop whatever he was doing and do anything for Zuko. Not only was Zuko his best friend, but Sokka was pretty sure that the butterflies he got in his tummy when Zuko smiled and the heat that he felt in his cheeks whenever Zuko complimented him meant his feelings went beyond friendship. Not that he would ever tell Zuko that, he wasn’t willing to risk the years of friendship that he has worked so hard to

build with him.

“In 100 feet, turn right.” Zuko read from the screen, drawing Sokka back into the present. He hummed to acknowledge the directions before falling silent once more. He had so many questions for Zuko, but he knew that he probably wouldn’t be able to get answers for most of them. He had been friends with Zuko long enough to know that he would just close off if he felt like he was being pressed too hard for information.

“Ok, when we get to the light we’re gonna turn left and then the building should be on the right.” Zuko instructed, before tapping the power button and placing the phone gently back into the cup holder.

“Ok.” Sokka flicked on his turn signal and entered the left turn lane. He was definitely feeling a lot calmer now; this was partially due to their increased distance from the crime scene, and partially due to the beautiful sunset that was starting to fade from bright oranges and pinks to a softer purple. This was Sokka’s favorite part of sunsets, right before the end when everything seemed to slow down for the evening.

Sokka turned left onto the street the library was on, the building’s parking lot surrounded by trees which would be helpful for obscuring their loitering vehicle for the next couple of hours. He turned into the parking lot and came to a stop in the farthest corner; parking the car, but not turning it off. The two of them sat there in silence for a moment, it was different from the silence that had pervaded during the drive over. 

Finally Sokka unbuckled his seatbelt. “Trunk?” he asked, looking at Zuko. They had done this before; Sokka’s car had a trunk that functioned the same as a door, it was perfect for tailgating. Well, that’s how the guy at the dealership had tried to sell it, but Sokka and Zuko mainly used it for parking lot hangouts. Usually with ice cream or some sort of takeout spread out between them. They didn’t have any takeout now, but Sokka thought that maybe that was for the best. He wanted to be able to focus on what Zuko had to say, and he wouldn’t be able to do that while also eating.

Zuko nodded and unbuckled his own seatbelt. Sokka turned the car off and got out, not wanting to climb over the backseat to get to the trunk.

He shut the door behind him and made his way to the back of the car, pulling the door open and revealing the trunk area, which he kept organized and tidy for this specific purpose. He climbed into his spot on the right, leaving the left side for Zuko, who climbed in right after him.

Sokka waited until Zuko was settled in to start asking his questions. As he waited, he took a long look at his friend; he looked tired, but not to the point of exhaustion. His hair was a mess, sticking up in all directions. Sokka wished he didn’t find it as cute as he did. Now was really not the time to be thinking of Zuko’s hair being cute.

He shook his head, hoping it would help to clear it, and then cleared his throat to dislodge some of the smoke that felt stuck within it. He decided to ask the biggest question first, just to get it out of the way.

“So, why did you do it?” he wondered if Zuko even knew the answer to this himself, but he figured he’d try asking anyway.

He was surprised when Zuko answered without even pausing to consider. “Because I thought it would make me feel better.”

“Did it?” Sokka was genuinely curious.

This did make Zuko pause to consider. “Yes.” he said with a determined sort of finality. “I think it did. It’s what he deserves, and it’s not like anyone was using the place anyway, no one lives there anymore.”

Ozai was currently in prison, serving three life sentences, which Sokka thought was letting him off easy. He didn’t know all of the details of their family history, only what Zuko had felt comfortable sharing with him, but he knew that anyone who hurt his best friend deserved to rot. He also knew that with Ozai in prison, Azula had moved in with Zuko and their Uncle, which Zuko had been very nervous about.

“Well,” Sokka didn’t know how he was supposed to respond to that, so he went with his gut and said, “I’m glad it made you feel better, even though it was a federal crime that you could be sent to prison for.”

Zuko scoffed lightly. “They’ll never be able to prove it was me, any evidence they could have found would have gotten destroyed in the fire.”

“I was actually reading an article a while back that said that investigators can still trace fingerprints on burnt stuff.” Sokka had not been expecting the information he had gleaned from that article to ever come in handy, but right now he was glad he had read it.

Zuko blinked at him. “Sokka, I lived in that house for most of my life, my fingerprints are already everywhere.”

“Oh,” Sokka hadn’t thought of that. “Yeah, that makes sense. Wait, but what about the security cameras?”

Zuko grinned smugly, clearly proud of himself. “I got into my father’s account with the security company online and made sure all the cameras and sensors were disabled.”

Sokka returned his grin, feeling proud of Zuko for having planned ahead. “Nice work, dude.” Sokka held out his fist for Zuko to bump, which he did, albeit somewhat awkwardly.

After pulling back, he waited for Zuko to volunteer whatever answers and thoughts he wanted to share. Sokka wasn’t going to try to drag anything out of him if he wasn’t ready to share.

“I’m glad I did it. I don’t regret it.” Zuko said, and Sokka believed him. The conviction of his tone said to Sokka that Zuko has been thinking about this, probably on the drive here.

Sokka hummed, he couldn’t necessarily say that he approved of committing federal crimes, but he definitely did think that Ozai had had this coming.

Zuko squinted at him in the low light of the car. “Are you mad at me?” he asked, sounding unsure. Sokka hated that he sounded so unsure.

He got up on his knees to reach the light on the car ceiling and click it on, he didn’t want Zuko to have to squint. “No, I’m not mad at you, Zuko. I was just worried about you.” 

This was as close as Sokka would ever get to a confession, and though it wasn’t giving anything particularly incriminating away, he still felt his face flush. He was glad for the relative darkness that was hopefully hiding it from Zuko.

“You were worried about me?” Zuko was looking perplexed at Sokka now; squinting not from the darkness, but from confusion. “Why?”

“Dude,” Sokka started. “You were absolutely fully manic on the phone when you called me.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. I mean why were you worried about my wellbeing? Why did you care?” 

Sokka stared at him; did Zuko really not know how much their friendship meant to him? Even if he didn’t know the full extent of Sokka’s feelings for him, surely he at least knew how much he valued their friendship?

“Zuko, you’re my best friend in the entire world, why would I not care about you? I thought you were in serious danger. And you were! You were standing next to a blazing inferno breathing in smoke for Spirits knows how long before I got there! Not only that, but you could’ve gotten hurt by the fire itself, fire is dangerous, Zuko!”

Zuko rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Sokka. I do know that fire is dangerous. Probably better than most people.”

Sooka felt a pang of guilt and he winced at his own misstep. “Oh, duh.” he didn’t apologize because he knew that would just make Zuko uncomfortable. More uncomfortable than he already was, anyway.

Zuko chuckled. “Yeah.”

They fell back into silence, but this one was more comfortable than it was tense. It felt more like the hangouts that Sokka so treasured. They sat there, facing each other, but looking up at the rapidly darkening night sky. Sokka had always loved the night sky, it had been a source of comfort for him his entire life. 

His mother had taught him and Katara about the constellations her mother had taught her when she was a kid their age. Sokka had loved the way she would tell them the stories of the stars and how they came to be. She was a great storyteller. After she had passed away, looking at the stars and remembering the constellations she had loved so much helped him feel closer to her. Katara had been too young to remember the stories their mom had told them, so Sokka told them to her again, trying to tell them as well as their mom had. That too made him feel closer to her.

And Yue, his first girlfriend, she had also loved the night sky. After she got sick, Sokka would come visit her and they would sit by the window and look at the sky together. She always told Sokka that when she left this planet she was going to go live on the moon, and that whenever he missed her, all he had to do was look at the moon and she would be there with him. Sokka hadn’t liked it when she said things like that, he had faith that she would get better and go back to living her normal life. When he ended up being wrong, looking at the moon and imagining her living there had actually helped. It still did.

And Zuko. 

Zuko was maybe his favorite person to share the night sky with. The first time they had done this, they had been sitting next to each other. Their legs dangling off the edge of the trunk, their hands slowly inching closer to each other’s, but never making contact. They had talked about their families, Zuko had talked mostly about his mother and his uncle, Sokka had talked about all of his family. Sokka had learned that Zuko’s mom had also taught him and his sister about the stars, but Zuko had been more interested than Azula had been. He learned that Zuko’s mom had grown up with different stories about the stars than his own mother had. Sokka and Zuko had compared stories, surprised both the amount of similarities and also the amount of differences. 

Sokka’s favorite part of sharing the night sky with Zuko, though, was when they made up their own stories about the stars and planets. They had spent more nights than Sokka could count sitting on the edge of the trunk, climbing up on top of the car, or just sprawling out on the ground together and making new connections between the stars and planets and writing their own new stories for them.

“Hey,” Sokka said softly, not wanting to startle Zuko. “Wanna make a new constellation?”

Zuko had been looking at the sky as well, and now he pulled his gaze back down from the sky to meet Sokka’s eyes. Sokka felt like he should be more used to being the subject of Zuko’s attention at this point, especially since he was the one that had drawn it to himself, but he still felt the telltale butterflies in his stomach looking at Zuko now.

Zuko smiled. “I think we might have run out of stars by now.” he spoke at the same soft volume as Sokka.

“I’m sure we can find some more.” he turned and grabbed the picnic blanket that he kept tucked in the corner of the trunk for this exact purpose. He turned to look back at Zuko after pulling it out. “You game?”

Zuko nodded with a soft smile on his face; the kind that you could only see if you were looking for it, and Sokka was always looking for it. He turned back around to reach back into the same corner and grab the oversized black sweatshirt he kept under the blanket for Zuko, just in case he got cold.

“You need this?” Sokka held it up into the light so that Zuko could actually see what it was. It was a cold night late in autumn, Sokka had on his denim jacket, so he was protected against the evening chill, but Zuko was still in just the ripped jeans and dark purple t-shirt that he had been wearing to set his father’s house on fire.

Zuko nodded and made grabby hands for it, Sokka rolled his eyes fondly and handed it over before tucking the blanket under his arm and reaching up to turn the light back off.

“Ok, get out of my car.” Sokka lightly kicked Zuko’s shoulder with his foot, and Zuko turned around to stick his tongue out at Sokka before actually hopping off of the trunk. He slipped the hoodie over his head and immediately stuffed his hands into the large front pocket.

“Hey,” Zuko said, mostly to himself, as he pulled something out of the pocket and held it up. It seemed to be a small slip of paper. “Turn the light back on so I can see what this says?”

“What is it?” Sokka asked as he got back up to turn the light on, once again. “It looks like the fortune from a fortune cookie.” It must have said something pretty significant if Zuko had decided to stuff it in his pocket instead of just throwing it away with the rest of their empty takeout boxes like he normally did.

“Yeah, it is.” Zuko moved closer to the light and squinted at the small slip of paper. Sokka watched him read it and his face start to flush at whatever was written on it.

“Ooh, what does it say?” Sokka wanted to know what was making Zuko blush.

“Nothing,” Zuko quickly shoved the fortune back into his pocket. “Something stupid. I don’t even know why I kept it.” he forced out a laugh as the blush on his face grew. Sokka narrowed his eyes at him.

“Oh, yeah?” he challenged. “Prove it. Show it to me.” he clicked the light off for a final time and climbed down out of the car so that he was standing next to Zuko on the pavement of the parking lot.

Zuko seemed to flounder for a moment, avoiding meeting Sokka’s eyes, before grabbing the picnic blanket from under Sokka’s arm and turning to walk over to the grassy area outside of the perimeter of the parking lot. He was walking quickly, clearly trying to avoid discussing what the paper had said. Sokka stood and watched him for a moment, weighing whether or not it would be worth the trouble of trying to find out what it said.

Zuko arrived at the spot in the grass and shook out the blanket to unfold it. He threw one end of it up to let the air catch it and flatten it out as it fell to the ground. He looked freer out here in the dark, under the light of the moon and stars. Maybe it was the small smile that played at the corners of his lips, or maybe it was the remnants of the blush that still dusted over his cheeks and nose. Whatever it was, Sokka was glad for it. Looking at him now, it was almost easy to forget the events that had gone down not an hour earlier. Sokka frowned at the reminder, he had a feeling that they were done talking about the topic for the night, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t still have questions.

“Are you coming, or are you just gonna stand there and stare at me like a creep all night?” Zuko called out across the parking lot to Sokka as he settled down onto the blanket. Sokka blinked himself out of his reverie and turned to shut the trunk door firmly. He started to make his way over to where his friend was sitting, already looking comfortable, despite the chill.

He sighed as he approached. “That was uncalled for, there is no need to be rude.” he arrived at the spot and sat down next to Zuko, before sprawling out horizontally, grabbing Zuko’s shoulder and pulling him down with him so that they were lying next to each other.

“So,” Zuko started. “New constellations?”

Sokka turned his head so that he was looking at the side of Zuko’s face. “Yes, but first I wanna know what that fortune said.” he decided that it was in fact worth it to try and find out.

Zuko’s blush started to return, telling Sokka that he had made the right decision. “Why? It’s just a stupid piece of paper. I’d rather talk about the stars.” he started pouting towards the end, still looking up at the sky and avoiding Sokka’s eyes.

“Because I wanna know what it could possibly say that has made you blush twice now. Hand it over.” he stuck out his hand and wiggled his fingers, waiting for Zuko to comply.

Zuko turned his head now and looked Sokka dead in the eyes. Sokka watched patiently as Zuko had what was probably a full-fledged debate in his mind. Sokka wondered what arguments Zuko’s brain was coming up with right now. What was it that he was trying to defend? What if it was something actually serious? They’d had enough drama for the day without Sokka pushing Zuko to share something he didn’t want to share.

“Hey,” he tried to sound reassuring. “If you’d really rather keep it to yourself, that’s okay. I’m sorry for pushing.” he started to withdraw his hand when Zuko’s own shot out suddenly and caught Sokka’s before he could move it too far away.

“No!” Zuko looked as surprised as Sokka felt at this sudden protest. He looked unsure as he continued speaking, almost like he was trying to build up the courage to say something big. “I want you to know, it’s been long enough and you  _ deserve _ to know, even if you don’t feel the same.”

He was clearly talking about something more than just the paper out of a fortune cookie, but Sokka couldn’t figure out what he meant. Even if he didn’t feel the same? As what, the piece of paper? Sokka didn’t get it.

“Zuko, it’s only been like two minutes.” Sokka tried to give him another out, maintaining eye contact. “I’ll be okay if I don’t know what the fortune from a fortune cookie from a month ago says.”

“It’s not just about the paper, Sokka. I feel like I owe you the truth after I just made you an accessory to a federal crime. You deserve that much.” Zuko hesitated as he reached the hand that wasn’t clutching Sokka’s into his pocket and pulled out the fortune. He took a deep breath before gently placing it into Sokka’s palm and sitting up, letting go of his hand in the process.

Sokka pulled his hand back with the paper in it and sat up next to Zuko. “The truth about what? You don’t owe me anything, Zuko. I helped you because I care about you and I wanted you to be safe. You don’t need to repay me by confessing something you’re clearly not comfortable saying. You don’t need to repay me at all.”

Zuko stared at Sokka for a silent moment, and Sokka couldn’t figure out what combination of emotions he was seeing in Zuko’s eyes; longing, wonder, fear. But none of those could be right. None of them made sense. 

“Please just read the fortune, Sokka.” he said softly, and broke eye contact and turned his gaze resolutely away from Sokka’s face.

“Okay?” Sokka didn’t know why Zuko was acting strangely all of a sudden, but he lifted the paper to his face, squinting to try and make out the tiny black words on it. No longer feeling particularly thrilled to read what was written on it.

_ You will find a love that sets your heart on fire and makes you feel at home. _

Now, what did that mean? Sokka was never usually at a loss for words, but right now he was having trouble figuring out what the correct response was. He wasn’t naive enough to believe that it was a confession of love from Zuko, sure that the part of his brain that thought that was just projecting his own feelings for the other boy onto the situation. Zuko had never shown any interest in him in that way in the entire time they had known each other, Sokka absolutely would have noticed if he had.

But what else could it mean?  _ You will find a love that sets your heart on fire and makes you feel at home _ ? That wasn’t open to very many interpretations, in Sokka’s own opinion, but what if he was wrong? He didn’t know if he was willing to risk their friendship over an old fortune from a fortune cookie that he had foolishly misinterpreted.

“Oh, cool,” he finally decided to say. “Your lucky numbers are seven, eighteen, thirty-five, fifty-one, seventy-seven, and one hundred and twelve. Good numbers. Lots of multiples of seven.”

Zuko’s head whipped back to stare at Sokka with utter disbelief. “Are you kidding me?” he sounded hurt and angry. “That’s what you got out of that?”

“I don’t know how you want me to respond to this, Zuko.” he didn’t want to get defensive, but he could feel it happening anyway. “I don’t know what it means! I know what I  _ want _ it to mean, but I know it’s not that.”

Zuko’s hurt expression softened to one of understanding. “Sokka,” he took both of Sokka’s hands in his own and scooted closer to him on the blanket. “What do you think it means?”

Sokka’s brain short-circuited at Zuko’s sudden closeness. From this close together, he could see the flecks of gold in Zuko’s brown eyes and flush that had returned to his cheeks, yet again. From where Zuko’s hands were holding Sokka’s, he could feel their racing heartbeats, both of them running in the same race, apparently.

“That you’re in love with someone and you wanted to tell me, but you didn’t know how to bring it up?” Sokka could hear the desperation and despair in his own voice; if Zuko didn’t already know how Sokka felt about him, he did now.

“Yeah, sure. Let’s go with that.” Zuko laughed quietly, squeezing Sokka’s hands gently and moving his face even closer to Sokka’s. Dangerously close, in Sokka’s opinion. Close enough that Sokka had to fight the urge to look down at Zuko’s lips, now so close to his own. “Do you wanna guess who it might be?”

“Not really,” Sokka figured he might as well be honest. His brain to mouth filter was already gone anyway, with the distance between them almost fully vanished. “I think I would prefer if you just tell me who it is.”

“Okay.” Zuko smiled, right before he closed what little distance remained between the two of them and caught Sokka’s lips in his own.

If Sokka had thought he was short-circuiting earlier, he  _ really _ was now. He sat frozen for a moment, unsure if this was just a really really vivid hallucination brought on by too much smoke inhalation, or if it was his actual real life. The odds were probably in favor of it being a hallucination, but it was a pleasant one, so he decided to just go with it.

Zuko (hallucination of Zuko?) started to pull away; Sokka had been too focused on whether this was reality or not to kiss back. Before Zuko could get very far, though, Sokka placed his hands on Zuko’s cheeks and pulled him back in. Zuko let himself be drawn back in, moving even closer to Sokka, so that their chests were pressed against each other; their heartbeats out of sync, but equally fast. Zuko’s hands came up to grab Sokka’s waist, his touch light and unsure, even as he softly bit Sokka’s bottom lip.

It wasn’t a particularly intense kiss, or a particularly long one, but it didn’t need to be. Sokka pulled away, but not so far that Zuko needed to let go of him. Sokka met Zuko’s eyes and couldn’t draw his attention away from the look on his face; the wonder in his eyes, but also the apprehension.

“So, who is it, then? You still haven’t told me.” Sokka tried to lighten the mood, but he also just really wanted to hear Zuko say the words, so he could be sure he wasn’t losing his mind.

“What are you talking about? I just did!” Zuko was exasperated, and Sokka couldn’t really blame him.

“No no no, that doesn’t count, I still haven’t heard you say it.” he clarified. He removed his hands from Zuko’s face and reached for the other boy’s hands instead.

“You really want me to spell out for you?” Zuko obviously wasn’t taking this seriously.

“No,” Sokka said, softly. He didn’t want to admit that it would make him feel better to hear the actual words, but he wanted Zuko to know. “I need you to. I need to be sure that this is what you want and I need to be sure that I’m not just hallucinating all of this.”

With the last part, Zuko seemed to get it, and his expression turned from exasperated back to fond. “Sokka, it’s you. It always has been, ever since the time you came up with a constellation that was shaped like a sock and named it the ‘Sock-a’ constellation and then laughed like it was the funniest thing you had ever said.”

Sokka felt his jaw drop. “Zuko, I’m pretty sure that was the first one I ever came up with. Also, that was two whole years ago!”

Zuko nodded. “Yeah, I guess you were pretty easy to fall for.” he smiled, but he still looked uncertain, and Sokka realized that he should probably confess his feelings in words too.

“I think for me it was that time when we were late to school because you made me pull the car over so you could get out and turn a turtle around so that it wouldn’t walk into the road.”

Now Zuko was shocked, probably recalling the event a little differently than Sokka was. “I thought you were annoyed when I did that.”

“No, I definitely was, don’t get it twisted.” Sokka laughed quietly, remembering the image of Zuko in his all-black clothing getting out of the car to gently guide the turtle back to safety. “But it was still adorable and so kind.”

Zuko stared at him, mouth agape as an expression of disbelief warred with one of relief and Sokka felt a surge of affection for the other boy. He laid back down on the blanket, pulling Zuko down with him, only letting go of one of Zuko’s hands to do so. Zuko followed easily, lying closer to Sokka than had been previously.

“So, are we gonna talk about this right now?” Zuko didn’t sound stressed about it as they both looked back up at the sky, hands joined between them.

Sokka considered for a moment. “No, I think we’ve had enough seriousness for the day. We can talk about it tomorrow.” he didn’t want to ignore the topic completely, but he didn’t think he could handle an intense emotional conversation about it at this point.

“Ok, that’s probably a good idea.” Zuko sounded perfectly content to save that conversation for the next day, as well.

A quiet moment passed between the two of them, looking at the stars. Sokka’s heart still hadn’t slowed its pace yet and he had a giddy smile on his face, which he was sure was matched on Zuko’s face.

And then Sokka started to laugh.

He felt more than saw Zuko turn his head to look at him. “What’s so funny?” he didn’t sound concerned, just curious, Sokka could hear the smile in his voice.

Sokka turned to face him. “It’s just,” he couldn’t help letting out another chuckle as he caught his breath. “I was just thinking about the fortune. It said that you would find a love that would set your heart on fire and it just made me think of how you literally set a house on fire today.” It really wasn’t that funny, but he started laughing again and heard Zuko join in.

They really must have been wiped out from the excitement of the evening, Sokka thought, because they laughed like it was the funniest joke either of them had ever heard.

“Arson is a federal crime, we shouldn’t be laughing about it,” Sokka wheezed.

“No, you’re definitely right, but sometimes federal crimes can be funny,” Zuko responded, just as out of breath.

“Hey,” Sokka squeezed his hand as he caught his breath. “Promise me something?” he asked after he had gotten his laughter back under control.

“Depends, what am I promising?” Zuko was looking at Sokka with such open affection that Sokka couldn’t help blushing.

“Promise me that you won’t make any more fortunes come true? Please?”

Zuko smiled. “Why would I need to make any more fortunes come true? I already have everything I want.”

Sokka chose to ignore the cheesiness of the statement in favor of pulling him back in for another kiss.

They would work out the details of what this all meant tomorrow, but for now Sokka was perfectly content to stay here under the stars tangled up with the boy he loved for a little while longer.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry about the ending feeling so rushed, i was honestly just kind of done with writing this fic lol
> 
> i'm @s-sokka on tumblr.


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